Lance Stier: A team without its Toole?

Through much of the opening half of last night's game, Penn point guard Andrew Toole looked as if he was going to have a career night. And a look at his final stat line -- 17 points, three assists and three rebounds -- seems to reveal that though Toole fell short of a great game, he still had a pretty good one. But, the final stats really don't tell the story in this one. A 12.1-points-per-game scorer on the season, nine minutes into the game, Toole had hit a trio of three-pointers plus a layup for 11 points. Thanks largely in part to their star point guard's efforts, the Quakers jumped to an early 18-5 lead. When La Salle rebounded to cut the deficit to 18-15, it was again Toole taking charge, knifing through the Explorers' defense before dishing to a cutting Ugonna Onyekwe for a point-blank shot. While Onyekwe was fouled on the shot -- he subsequently converted the ensuing two free throws to kick-start an 8-0 Penn run -- it was not his free throws that were Penn's largest concern after the whistle at 5:36. It was Toole's right ankle. While penetrating through the defense, Toole came down hard on his right ankle, forcing his immediate exit from the floor. Though team doctors permitted him to play for the rest of the game and he logged 32 minutes in total -- many of which came by virtue of a substitution pattern that saw him play nearly exclusively on the offensive end -- Toole was largely ineffective as he hobbled throughout the remainder of the contest. Slowed by his bum ankle, Toole was beaten repeatedly off the dribble by La Salle's explosive Jermaine Thomas, forcing the Penn guard to pick up three defensive fouls. Thomas cashed in on the ensuing free-throw attempts, knocking down four of his five foul shots. On the other side of the floor, Toole similarly struggled, as he missed all four of his other three-point attempts and also committed a pair of offensive charges. Toole's stat line, post injury -- six points (all from the foul line), two assists and three turnovers. The three turnovers were what most infuriated Dunphy in the postgame press conference, prompting him to cry that he "almost ripped [Toole's] face off" after his two late first-half miscues. And while enacting the 1997 plot of a Nicholas Cage/John Travolta thriller may have been the aim of Dunphy's angst in the postgame conference, there is no question that he and the team remain worried about the status of their senior point guard. And they rightfully should be. Last season, when Toole went down with a stress fracture in the same right foot, Penn split its four games without their lead guard -- including a disappointing 75-71 loss to Davidson. Guiding the Penn offense during that stretch was a two-headed diminutive point guard tandem of Charlie Copp and David Klatsky. And while the duo played admirably, make no mistake about it -- from the practice court to the game itself -- this was and is Toole's team. Without their front man this season, the Quakers would certainly go into their Ivy schedule -- which they begin this weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard -- with a bit more apprehension. For an evening that started with a Toole offensive explosion, it's amazing now to consider that by the end of the night, the Quakers may be facing another stretch without their lead guard. We'll find out on Friday night.

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